


RWBY Revelations

by Arlux1313



Series: RWBY works [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-05-06 00:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5396783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arlux1313/pseuds/Arlux1313
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cinder fall is not the only one who has nefarious plans for Beacon Academy and the kingdom of Vale. Ryder Argent, the leader of future hunter team Team RYDR, knows someone has dark and sinister plans not just for Vale, but for the other kingdoms as well. It's Ryder and his team, against his insane father Revel Argent, and his making of six armies of Grimm he calls 'chapters.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Emerald Forest part 1

“Your task is simple: Collect a relic from within the forest, and make it back to the cliffs. Do not hesitate to destroy anything that stands in your way. You will fight and survive, or you will die.” Professor Ozpin’s words played back over and over through Ryder Argent’s mind as he sailed through the air, having been launched off a platform overlooking the large forest near Beacon Academy. He had not been here twenty-four hours, and already he and dozens of other students were going through their first test. 

“Test? I don’t think so. This is an initiation.” The young Hunter said to himself, as he opened his eyes. The forest got closer and closer, as Ryder began to descend. He gripped the hilt of his sword, a weapon he called Fourth in his right hand, his landing strategy was going to be slightly unorthodox, but hopefully it shouldn’t cause harm to anyone. 

Ryder pulled Fourth from its scabbard, spun it once in his hand, and with a slight hiss and some mechanical clicks, Fourth’s blade split down the middle revealing a large railed barrel. A trigger formed between the cross section of Fourths hilt and crossguard, and a large shell loaded itself into the weapon’s barrel. The large shell was nearly invisible as Ryder pulled the trigger, it sailed through the air, and upon impact with the ground, created a large crater in the earth. That crater would be his landing pad. Fourth became a blade once more, before being placed back in its scabbard. He straightened himself out, and angled himself to fall straight towards that crater which got closer every second, however he was going far too fast to land safely, as a fall from this height with no parachute would kill anybody. Yet Ryder’s Semblance was more than enough to prevent that from happening. When he was close enough to the crater, he activated his Semblance with a snap of his fingers, and a dozen feet from becoming an nasty stain on the ground, he came almost to a complete stop. Ryder smirked to himself, as he very slowly descended the last twelve feet to the ground, not unlike someone moving through water after jumping off a high diving board. Once his feet had touched the ground, Ryder once again snapped his fingers, and the twelve foot invisible dome his Semblance had created vanished. 

“Not a bad landing.” Ryder said as he straightened himself up, and brushed off his clothes. “It’s safe now Ying, you can come out.” At his words, Ryder’s shadow extended, and began to rise from the ground taking the shape of a young woman slightly shorter than Ryder. The darkness fell away, and the young girl Ryder called Ying revealed herself. Her clothes were bright, to contrast her Semblance.

Ying inhaled deeply, as she tried to control how bad her body was shaking. Ying wore bright colors contrasting her Semblance’s ability to merge into shadows as she had a horrible fear of the dark. Her bright violet eyes, looked up in slight surprise, when Ryder placed a hand on top of her head, and lightly ruffled her shoulder-length black hair.

“I’m sorry Ying, I forgot you don’t like to use your Semblance if you can help it.” Ryder said smiling slightly, as his fingers worked their way through Ying’s hair.

Ying to her credit, gave Ryder a smile of reassurance, and removed his hand from atop her head. “I am fine now Ryder, yet I believe we should get moving. That explosion may have attracted Grimm.” 

The two froze, as the unmistakable growling of a Grimm got their attention. The two stood back to back, as Ryder drew Fourth from its scabbard, and two stylised bladed tonfas came out of the sleeves of Ying’s brightly colored jacket. The growling grew louder, as a large bipedal Grimm stepped into sight above them on the edge of the crater caused by Fourth’s explosive shell. 

“Beowulf.” The two said simultaneously. More growling echoed around them as more Beowulf’s surrounded the two at the top ledge of the crater.

“Make that plural.” Ryder said, as his fingers tightened around Fourth. 

The growling intensified, and with a long howl, the Grimm charged from all angles at the two Hunters. The two locked themselves into fighting stances, as the Beowulf’s came closer. When there was hardly any more room to maneuver, the Grimm suddenly stopped moving. Locked in motion, and seemingly frozen in time. Then as quickly as it had happened, the Grimm were suddenly moving once more, but they were no longer charging at the two. Instead they fell to the ground piece by piece, having been sliced into ribbons by the two while they were locked in time. And still in the center of the crater, still standing within their respective fighting stances. 

“Do you think there are more?” Ryder asked, eyeing the filleted Grimm.

“Undoubtedly so.” Ying said with a slight nod. And as if to emphasize Ying’s statement, four more Beowulf’s appeared upon the ledge of the crater, clearly larger than the others that were lying in pieces at the two Hunter’s feet.

“Well would you look at that. The older siblings came out to play.” Ryder said, as Fourth shifted into its gun mode.

“Allow me to deal with them.” Ying said, her violet eyes flashing with intensity. 

“Knock yourself out.” Ryder said, placing Fourth once again in its blade form, back in its scabbard. 

Ying slowly walked towards the larger Beowulf's, spinning the bladed tonfa in her right hand in a taunting manner. One Beowulf howled, and the four charged at the young brightly dressed woman. Ying jumped, and placed her left foot on the top of the muzzle of the Beowulf leading the charge. Using the Grimm’s moth as a springboard of sorts, she cartwheeled over the charging Grimm, making several slashing motions with her tonfas as she moved through the air. That particular Grimm hit the ground in three separate pieces. Head, torso, and legs, with its severed head coming to a stop at Ryder’s feet. Ying launched herself into the air once more, in a backflip this time, as mechanical clicking signaled the transformation of Ying’s bladed tonfas. The blades shifted to the opposite of the tonfas, a barrel appeared at the end of the weapon, and a trigger formed along the crossguard like Fourth’s transition into a firearm. Ying pulled the triggers of her now duel pistols, firing rapidly, and filling two other Beowulf's with bullet holes. Ying landed on the balls of her feet, at the same time the two other now deceased Grimm hit the ground. Her two pistol-tonfas now held in a reverse grip. The same way one traditionally uses a tonfa. The last Beowulf howled, and took a swipe at Ying, who ducked effortlessly, and launched a series of blows with her tonfas at the chest of the large Grimm. With each blow, the slider of Ying’s weapons drew back, and fired another bullet, propelling her weapons forward, and increasing the damage the weapon’s rear bayonet did as it repeatedly stabbed the Beowulf. The Grimm dropped to the ground dead, as Ying’s weapons became blades with telltale mechanical clicks. 

The sound of applause reached her ears, and Ying’s gaze turned to Ryder. “That was quite impressive.” The young man said offering Ying a congratulatory smile. A smile split Ying’s face, and she took a bow of thanks. 

There was no time to celebrate further, as more Beowulf's showed up. Both Ryder and Ying readied their weapons, but their eyes widened in shock when a gunshot rang out, and a pointed crystal shard buried itself in the skull of one of the Beowulfs. Another shot rang out a moment later, and another Beowulf dropped with a similar crystal like shard buried in its skull as well. A third shot came after that, then a fourth, and a fifth after that. A sixth shot rang out, but the crystal stopped in mid-air at the snap of Ryder’s fingers. Tracing the trajectory of where the crystal shard was fired from, Ryder spotted the glint of a rifle’s scope reflected in the sunlight. They had help, and Ryder wasn’t going to turn that down. He snapped his fingers once again, and the crystal shard resumed its path through the air, and buried itself into the skull of the sixth Beowulf.

Several minutes later, their savior made their way down the small slope of the crater Ryder created with Fourths explosive shell. The newcomer was clearly female. She had a bright silver set of armor on. She wore a pale grey coat over her armor, with snow white fur adorning the sleeves and the neck. Her hair was a dull brown, braided into a ponytail she wore over her left shoulder. She also carried what looked to be a bolt-action rifle in both of her hands.

“Dahlia Silverback.” She said respectfully as she stopped several paces from Ryder.

“Ryder Argent.” He responded, and motioned to Ying. “This is my partner, Ying Li Shang.” Ying, bowed slightly to Dhalia, who returned it while also never taking her eyes off the two. 

“It looks as if the three of us will be working together from now on.” Ryder and Ying nodded at Dahlia's words, as her rifle transitioned itself into a javelin. However the three soon had their weapons drawn and in their gun modes once more, as the characteristic growling of yet another Beowulf grabbed their attention.

However, neither Ryder, Ying, nor Dahlia got a shot off, as with a red flash, and a sound of thunder, the large Grimm’s head was rended from its shoulders. That red flash then came before the three young Hunters, revealing itself to be yet another young woman. This one dressed in a dark brown and well worn leather jacket. Her eyes were bright red, as was her hair, yet most of it was hidden under a tri-pointed hat that was made of the same well worn brown leather as her jacket. Her buckled boots were of the same material as her hat and jacket, and went up past her knees. The shirt she wore under her jacket was the same bright red color as her eyes and hair, and she gripped a slightly curved cutlass within her right hand.

“Make that four now.” The girl dressed as a pirate said with a wide smile. “My name is Rhea B. Rouge.”


	2. The Emerald Forest part 2

At the same time Ryder and Ying were engaging the pack of Beowulf’s, another young Hunter had just made a landing of his own within the forest. He stood up from a kneeling position, and stretched out his left arm, before placing a bronze shield the size of a large trailer truck tire along his back. The color of his shield complimented the bronze/crimson color combination of his armor. He looked up and over his left shoulder, at the circular marks that looked to be ingrained into the branches of the trees that were caused when he used his large shield to protect his body from the fall. This young Hunter’s name was Rouge Crimson.

“Well that was fun. Hopefully I’ll never have to do that again.” Rouge said as he lightly dug the tips of the fingers of his right hand into his short crimson colored hair, lightly scratching his scalp. The call of some sort of bird drew his attention from somewhere behind him, and he spun around to see what looked to be a raven perched on a tree branch. “Oh I’m sorry. I must have destroyed your nest on the way down.”

The raven cawed, and spread its wings taking flight a moment later, and heading straight for the newcomer who had smashed his way through the trees with his large shield. Rouge crouched into a slight defensive stance, as he reached for the large shield placed behind his back. However his hand froze when, in a flurry of black feathers, there was a young man standing in the same spot where the raven was just moments before. He wore dark buckled boots, a set of dark colored pants with a shirt matching his already darkened clothing set, and a sleeveless over-coat that stopped just above his knees. There was a fingerless glove on the young man’s left that had a small red colored bird in flight printed on the center of the back of the glove. The young man’s hair was jet black like the rest of his clothing. The only thing that was not darkened, happened to be his eyes. A dull milky white. He was blind. 

“Are you a Faunus?” Rouge asked the newcomer.

The other boy laughed in response. Shaking his head, and brushing some of his raven colored hair out of his eyes, he replied. “No I’m not. Faunus can’t transform into animals. What you just saw was … Well it was me showing off a bit.”

Rouge’s brow furrowed, as his eyebrows touched. “What are you talking about showing off?”

The raven haired boy’s eye seemed to shine, as if he knew something Rouge didn’t. “Lenore.” The raven that Rouge thought the shorter boy had transformed into landed on his shoulder.

Rouge was admittedly a bit confused. He couldn’t tell if the raven was summoned by the raven-haired boy as part of his Semblance, or if it was something else entirely. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the deal with the raven?”

The sound of gunfire halted all further attempts at conversation, as both boys became drawn to the sound of combat. Gunfire in this forest meant several things all with one conclusion. Someone, or several people were engaged in a fight, and people fighting in this forest meant there were Grimm very close by. And if there were Grimm very close by, more would be drawn to the sound of fighting. Rouge slowly reached for his large shield, sliding his left hand into the grips, one of which had a large trigger built into it.

The raven-haired boy reached behind his sleeveless overcoat for his weapon. A hatchet or cleaver of some sort, that seemed to be folded over on a locked hinge. A very unconventional weapon if Rogue had ever seen one, yet he didn’t question it much. Rouge was the one using a large shield with no sword or spear. There was something there, just beyond the trees where they couldn’t see. It was moving low to the ground circling the two. The way it moved, it did not sound like it had paws. Its movements were smooth, as if it was gliding along the forest floor like some sort of large serpent.

“It’s a King Taijitu.” The raven-haired boy said in a voice barely above a whisper, as he brought his cleaver up in a reverse gripped defensive stance.

Rouge dropped low into a defensive stance of his own, with his body almost completely hidden behind his shield. “Stay behind me.” He said in a whisper of his own, as he moved closer to the other boy.

The serpent Grimm struck fast. Almost a blur of black scales, and ivory white fangs. Both boys backpedaled, in an attempt to avoid being caught in the jaws of the Taijitu. Rouge rolled to the side, while the other boy dressed in dark clothing took shelter within the branches of the surrounding trees. The taijitu slithered into the bushes, and once again began circling the two once more. Rouge looked around, trying to pinpoint the location of the large serpent Grimm, who was still circling in preparation for a second strike. 

The bushes came apart once more, and the black scaled Taijitu made a beeline for Rouge, when suddenly a rifle shot echoed around the forest, hitting the Grimm in the head. Yet the shot bounced off the Grimm, only seeming to irritate it. Its body coiled around itself, and the Grimm reared its head, in preparation for a third strike at Rouge. The Grimm’s head shot forward, its long ivory fangs extended. Rouge jumped, yet not away from the serpent, but towards it. He wedged the over large shield in between the upper and lower jaws of the Grimm, preventing it from eating him. An explosion erupted into the mouth of the Taijitu, and out through the back of its head, decapitating the large serpent Grimm, and sending chunks of it all over the surrounding trees. 

Prying his large shield from between the jaws of the Taijitu, Rouge did not see a second white scaled Taijitu slither up behind him, up until its severed head sailed overhead. Turning around in shock, Rouge saw that his savior was the same raven haired boy. 

“It looks like I owe you.” Rouge said, earning a small smile from his rescuer. There was no time to celebrate though. Two more King Taijitu slithered at the two boys intent on avenging their fallen brothers. Several things happened all at once. Two objects whistled past Rouge’s head. They hit the white scaled Taijitu in both of its eyes, and exploded a moment later. Someone else jumped towards the second Grimm with a sword drawn. The blade had a wave shape and pattern to it, yet that’s all the two had time to register, as the blade was thrust forward with what seemed to be multiple strikes. Several seconds later, the second serpent Grimm dropped to the ground, the theory of multiple strikes having been proven true when the boys got a good look at the Grimm’s corpse. It now resembled swiss cheese rather than the body of the large serpent it had been a moment ago.

The newcomer placed the blade back in its scabbard, which with a series of mechanical clicks, locked itself within its scabbard. The owner of the blade was female, she had a similar armor/clothing combination to Rouge. However her armor was ivory white, with whatever cloth emerged from her armor was colored dark blue, as was the long cape draped over both her shoulders. Her blonde hair was tied into a small but tight bun, and her dark blue eyes had a hard expression to them.

“My name is Glacius Cerullian.” The newcomer said with a light bow.

“Rouge Crimson.” Rouge replied. “We owe you Glacius. And this is-” Rouge gestured to the raven haired boy, who had severed the head of the first white scaled King Taijitu.

“Umber R. A. Ven.” The dark haired boy said as his cleaver folded up, and Umber placed it behind his sleeveless overcoat. “Who was the one shooting arrows?”

A fourth individual dropped from the trees. Her hair, eyes, and dress all a very deep violet. There was to Rouge and Umber’s surprise a violin in her left hand. “That.” Glacius said by means of introduction. “Is Eton Violetta.”


	3. The Emerald Forest part 3

_Right claw strike, wild. intended for upper torso and head. Lean back, then counter with right cross to cheek._ Khaki stuck to his instructions to himself perfectly. He leaned backwards, dodging the Beowulf’s wild swing at his upper torso. His right hand then connected with the right side of the Grimms face. 

_Aim kick to solar plexus, and follow with twin hooks to face._ Khaki’s left foot made contact with the the Grimm’s abdomen, and once it had doubled over, the brass knuckles on both of his hands, sandwiched the Beowulf’s skull between them.

 _Target is now dazed. Finish off with gunfire._ Khaki spun his weapons several times with his index fingers, moments later, a set of pistols were in the young man’s hands. Several pulls of the triggers later, The Grimm creature was a hole filled carcass on the forest floor. 

“I was doing fine on my own!” A voice said from behind him, in a tone of clear agitation. There was a girl standing several paces away. Ebony black hair, with eyes to match the color of her hair. Her outfit was something Khaki could only describe as gothic-style lolita.

At this Khaki rolled his eyes. “I would not call what you were doing to those creatures as ‘handling the situation.’ You were torturing those Grimm, now while I agree that they’re incredibly dangerous and should be dealt with in an extreme manner, what you were doing was sadistic.” 

Khaki had found this particular young woman placing cuts into her arms and legs, and he was both surprised and disgusted to see that the same wounds appeared on the Grimm at the same spots. No doubt this young woman’s Semblance. Make your opponent feel whatever damage that is applied. yet it was in Khaki’s mind, a sick and twisted way to utilize this particular Semblance.

“And what would you know about me!?” The girl demanded.

Khaki took a deep breath before speaking once again. “I know you’re a seventeen year old girl, who like most her age was sent to Beacon to study to become a Huntress. I also know that unlike most your age, you prefer to cause anything you perceive as an enemy horrendous pain by using your Semblance like what you just did to those Beowulf’s before I arrived. I know by the tears and cuts you’ve made into your sleeves and leggings, you have done this multiple times on multiple occasions. Probably led to trouble with law enforcement. No wait, definitely led to trouble with law. Which makes you the only student to be admitted to Beacon for reasons of public safety. Meaning that you my dear are Ebony I. Vory.” 

The girl named Ebony froze in shock. Khaki had been correct about everything. “How did you know that!?” She demanded. 

“I didn’t know. I simply observed.” He said simply, placing his brass knuckles back into the inside of his light brown jacket. “Also, to our newcomer. How long are you going to stand behind that tree?”

Ebony looked around in confusion. There was no one around, and certainly nobody hiding behind any tree. How wrong she was, when a girl about her height, stepped around from behind one of the larger trees. Her eyes and hair, like her own matched one another perfectly. They were both colored a slight reddish-brown. As was the hooded cloak that covered her entire body.

“Let’s see now.” Khaki spoke up once more. “Reddish-brown hair and eyes, as well as clothing. Stayed behind cover until the immediate danger had passed. Don’t like talking if you can help it either. You would have to be Auburn Roselita correct?”

The girl in question, Auburn nodded once not saying a word to either Ebony or Khaki, earning an irritated groan from Ebony. “Do you always have to do that!?”

“Do what? Observe my surroundings? Or were you going to ask weather I always have to voice what I observe? Of course I could retort about you always causing harm to yourself to harm your enemies. The people who’ve seen you do that believe you’re a psychopath, but they’re wrong. You don’t use your Semblance simply to hinder your opponents, you do it not just because you enjoy it. You do it because you know you can get away with using it. No you’re not a psychopath, you’re a sociopath, and a highly functioning one at that. However to answer your question, I observe and voice what I observe for the same reason you use your Semblance. So yes I always have to voice what I observe.” Khaki’s words and power of observation once again stunned Ebony into silence. 

There was a loud menacing growl that grabbed all three young students attention. A large Ursa had reared up on its hind legs behind Auburn. Its large right paw was raised, as it prepared to take a swipe at the young woman, who was rooted to the spot with her reddish-brown eyes widened in both shock and fear. 

A shadow moved over the Ursa, and a moment later, something that looked like a large bell made contact with the bear Grimm’s head. The upper half of the Ursa then became coated in ice, and a moment later, a large gonging sound came from the bell and shattered the Ursa’s upper half. A moment later, another girl dropped from the tree branch where she was hanging upside down. Her hair was a light blue, the same color as the clothes she wore. There were a set of light blue headphones around her neck, adorned with a small white bell on the center of both earpieces. Her shirt showed off a tiny portion of her mid-riff, and there seemed to be a bit of a criss-cross choker that tied from one side of her shirt around her neck, to the other side of her shirt. There were a pair of tie-on sleeves on her arms, with the strings criss-crossing one another along the top half of her arms, while regular cloth covered the bottom half. There was a white belt running through the loops in her form fitting pants, that stopped just above her ankles and her sneakers, which like everything else she wore was colored a light blue.

“Before you start doing that observation thing you do.” She started, as the handle of her bell hammer folded to form a handle on the large bell. “My name is Cyan M. Herald.” Cyan smiled, as the air shimmered and brightened around the hand that held the bell, and her arm seemed to vanish for a moment into the shimmering light. When she withdrew her hand, it no longer held the large bell that had folded into a large hammer. “And what you just saw, was my Semblance.”


	4. Players and pieces

Ryder, Ying, Rhea, and Dahlia raced through the forest as fast as their feet could carry them, stopping only to fire at the pack of Beowulves that had given chase to the four young students. There was no sense for Ryder to use his Semblance, as the invisible bubble in which all time either slowed down, or stopped altogether only had a radius of twelve feet. Not to mention, the Grimm that had given chase to the four, had to have been one of the largest pack of Beowulves Ryder had ever seen. It was this thought that ran through his mind, as his Hunter’s weapon, a sword he had called Fourth split down the middle to reveal the large railed barrel set between both edges of Fourth’s blade. With a small and satisfying click, a large explosive shell was loaded into the barrel. Ryder stopped running, turned to face the charging pack of Grimm, and pulled the trigger that had formed when Fourth transformed into a grenade launcher. The explosive shell soared through the air, and impacted on the Grimm leading the charge, who vanished in a shower of fire, shrapnel, and concussive force, as did a half dozen other Beowulves. 

“Good shot!” Rhea congratulated Ryder, as she turned to aim her cutlass that was now what looked to Ryder like a flintlock musket at the charging pack. The young girl dressed in pirate-like attire pulled the trigger on her weapon that she had named Red Mist, yet instead of a bullet coming out of the barrel of Rhea’s weapon, what looked like a red colored lightning bolt shot from Red Mist’s barrel. The bolt of lightning arced through the air, and through several other Beowulves, as Rhea fired three more times, before she turned and ran to catch up to her three new teammates.

The forest suddenly gave way to a large clearing, with what looked like a small rundown temple at the center. Eight more young students stood at the temple, all looking at the four newcomers, then all drew their weapons when they saw why they were running. One of the eight around the small temple, who was clad in bronze and crimson armor yelled Ryder and his new team to duck, which they all did. Not a moment after, a small cluster of what seemed to be rockets soared over their heads. The small rockets hit the charging Beowulves, and the entire charging pack vanished as the surprisingly large explosion carved large gouges into the earth. When the smoke cleared, there was not a single Beowulf left standing.

“Thank you for that.” Ryder said, as Rouge helped him to his feet.

“Anytime.” Rouge smiled, as the rivets on his large shield closed. Ryder though that must have been where those small rockets had been fired from.

“This is everyone whose made it so far?” Dahlia asked to the eight other students, who all nodded.

Ryder, Ying, Rhea, and Dahlia all noted that as they got a good look at the small rundown cobblestone temple, that there were several sets of gold and silver chess pieces on small pedestals all around the small temple. Were these the relics they were supposed to take back to Professor Ozpin?

“Are these what we’re supposed to take back to the cliffside?” Ying voiced the question the other three had all asked themselves mentally.

“They have to be.” Said Umber Ven. A dark-haired boy with equally dark clothing, offset by a pair of bright vivid silver eyes. “It seems like the only explanation of most of the facts.”

“Wrong.” Said Khaki Baskerville. Another young man who had been there when Ryder and his team ran into the clearing. All of his clothing was from his well polished shoes, to his travelling coat, a very light brown in color. The exception being the bright red scarf tied smartly around and under the collar of his light brown button up shirt. “Take a good look around. There are over two dozen pieces here, and over two dozen students were admitted into Beacon this year. That means one piece for each of us. Also meaning, those of us wishing to be on the same team, need to take a similar chess piece. There you go, only explanation of all of the facts.”

The young girl beside Khaki dressed in a lolita-style outfit, rolled her eyes, heaving a large groan of great disgust after Khaki had spoken, but did not utter a word of protest. She turned her back on Khaki, and snatched up a silver bishop piece. Khaki followed this girls example, as did two other girls alongside Khaki. One wearing a set of clothes, all the same light blue color as her hair, the other girl followed this trend as well, as all of her clothes matched the color of her reddish-brown hair and eyes.

Rouge turned his gaze to Umber, and tilted his head towards another set of chess pieces. His gesture more of a question, to which Umber replied in affirmation by nodding once. The two boys took a set of rooks. Their notion was followed by Glacious. An attractive blonde-haired young woman, who had a set of clothes a combination of cloth and armor like Rouge and Dahlia. Although, unlike the other two the color of her clothing was a dark blue. Eton took the final silver castle piece. Eton’s hair and eyes were a deep violet color. She wore a long slightly flowing dress, that stopped above her knees. Her boots were also the same dark violet color as her hair and dress. The exception being the silver buckles, and the high-heeled boots stopped at Eton’s knees, where the front of her dress cut off.

Ying had once again removed Ryder’s hand from the top of her head, as when Rouge had fired rockets at the Beowulves, Ying had vanished into Ryder’s shadow by means of her Semblance. While Khaki had explained why these chess pieces had to have been what they were sent to collect, Ryder’s fingers had worked their way through Ying’s dark hair, as she was shaking slightly. It always worked to calm her down, as Ying had a horrible fear of the dark, and by extention, her Semblance as well. Smoothing out her hair from where Ryder’s fingers had worked their way through it, Ying grabbed a golden queen chess piece. As did Ryder, Rhea, and Dahlia.

“Alright then.” Ryder began. “Let’s get back to the school.” Everyone then ducked, as a loud screech came from overhead, followed by the shadow of a large Nevermore. Fortunately it did not attack them. It flew overhead, and past the large gouges in the earth where Rouge’s missiles had disintegrated the pack of Beowulves.

“Well that’s a relief.” Glacious said, with a small smile playing at the corner of her lips. Yet that smile quickly faded when a loud, long, deep howl seemed to echo all around the forest that surrounded the large clearing.

“If that’s an Alpha Beowulf howling.” Eton said, her voice holding a tone of nervousness, yet it was also slightly soothing. “We all need to get out of here.” Nobody disagreed at the young woman’s words, and the twelve students ran into the forest heading towards the cliffs.

The twelve ran through the forest, being guided by Umber’s raven Lenore who swooped in and out of the trees. Several minutes passed, before the trees gave way to reveal the large cliffside that separated the forest from Beacon Academy. A large stone bridge stretched from the cliffside from where the twelve stood, to the opposite cliffside that went up hundreds of feet, with a large staircase cut into the stone of the cliff. Nobody took another step, as that moment a large black blur sailed over their heads, landing in the center of the bridge to bar their path. Then everyone’s stomachs dropped, as twelve feet of Alpha Beowulf stood, turned and snarled. 

“What the hell is that?” Someone asked absently.

“I have no idea, but it’s big.” Umber said in response.

“That’s perceptive for a blind man, now how do we kill it?” Rouge asked, scoffing.

Eton was the first one whose shock seemed to had dissipated. Her bladed violin split down the middle, and the strings turned from vertical to horizontal, stretching taught when her violin had completed its transformation into a bow. Eton then drew back on one of the strings with two of her fingers. Two arrows then materialised between Eton’s fingers, constructed from fire. She let go of the string, and the blazing arrows flew towards the Alpha Beowulf, impacting and exploding at the Alpha’s knees. When the smoke cleared, it appeared as if nothing had happened, and the Alpha seemingly smirked, as if it knew that would not work. If that was even possible for a Grimm to smirk, or even know what sort of damage its body can handle. 

The scabbard of Glacius’ blade unlocked, and the blonde girl rushed forward at a blinding speed. She seemed to be suspended in the air for a moment, as two more blazing arrows shot past Glacius, having been fired from Eton’s bow. Glacius’ sword arm was then a blur, as the waved shaped blade stabbed at the arrows, and into the Alpha Beowulf. This combo seemed to have a better effect, as driven into the Alpha’s fur by the multiple stabs from Glacius’ blade, the blazing arrows exploded again the second Glacius was away. The Alpha Beowulf yelped in surprise and pain, as Eton’s Dust formed arrows had a better effect than her first volley.

“How did you do that?” Rouge asked in amazed admiration, when Glacius had rejoined them.

“There are multiple blades in my scabbard.” She replied, as Ryder shot an explosive shell from Fourth, when it had transformed into a grenade launcher. “Each blade was forged with Dust, and has a different effect depending on which one locks into the hilt.”

The explosive shell fired from Fourth hit the Alpha’s right knee, and the large Grimm dropped to its good leg when the other gave out. The large Grimm locked its eyes with Ryder, snarling in immense anger. A split second later, the Alpha Beowulf charged. There was a cry of ‘oh no you don’t’ from Rouge, and the large red-haired young man raised his arms, fingers spread. What looked like hundreds of bronze spears appeared above the Alpha Grimm, and soared through the air, down towards the Beowulf when Rouge dropped his hands to the ground. The spears hit the Alpha with such force, they were driven through the thick hide of the Large Grimm. Several of the spears were driven through the Grimm’s legs and claws, and even one through its muzzle, pinning it to the stone bridge.

“Everyone cross now!” Ryder yelled, running towards the Alpha Beowulf, and the cliffside behind it leading back to Beacon, everyone followed him a moment later. He stepped over, and walked along the back of the Grimm, who while pinned to the ground could only growl unhappily. Not wanting it to get up, and toss anyone over the side of the bridge, and into the seemingly endless ravine below, Ryder snapped the thumb and middle finger of his left hand. The invisible twelve foot bubble in which Ryder had control over time, expanded trapping only the Alpha Beowulf, and allowing the other eleven students to pass through it unaffected.

“Hold on.” Rouge said, when everyone had reached the last step on the opposite cliffside. He looked back down at the Alpha Grimm, who was still pinned to the ground by the spears his Semblance had created, and trapped in time by Ryder’s Semblance. “We should finish it off. We don’t want anyone else to have to fight this thing.”

Khaki nodded in agreement, and stepped forward to look down at the Grimm who was pinned to the ground. “Suggestions?” 

Cyan, the young girl dressed in light blue stepped forward. “I have one, but someone will have to launch me into the air, so I’m right over it.” 

“I can help with that.” Rouge replied, gesturing to his large shield. 

“Okay but cover your ears.” She said taking out her bell hammer from seemingly nowhere.

Cyan stood with her back turned towards the large cliffside. Rouge was several yards away, taking cover behind his large shield that Cyan planned to use as a springboard. At some unseen signal, the young girl ran forward. Rouge pushed with all his might, as to his surprise Cyan was heavier than she seemed, when Cyan hit his shield with her hammer, and leapt off the large shield. This time instead of ice forming, Cyan was launched further as a gale shot from the bell. The young girl then, to everyone’s immense surprise, vanished when she was right above the Alpha Beowulf. The only evidence of what had happened to her, was a small glowing orb. Then with another jolt of surprise shooting through everyone’s stomach, Cyan had appeared again, pushing a road roller down through the air, towards the pinned Alpha. Ryder and Rouge barely had enough time to disengage their Semblances before the road roller hit the Alpha Beowulf. There was a sickening crack, as the Grimms spine snapped. Then the stone bridge shattered, sending the large Grimm, and the road roller into the large ravine. Lenore had swooped down and grabbed Cyan by the back of her shirt, having a surprising amount of strength for a small raven. 

“How did you do that!?” Rhea asked in incredulity.

“It’s my Semblance.” Cyan began, as she explained how her Semblance worked. “I can store anything I want in a pocket dimension, with one little catch. Whatever I store in it, adds to my total weight.”

“That explains why you seemed so heavy.” Rouge said, massaging his left arm. “You had that road roller stored in there.”

Something then caught Umber’s attention. “Look.” He began pointing a ways away towards another stone bridge, that looked smashed to pieces. “Another fight.”

Sure enough, when everyone looked to where Umber had pointed, there was indeed another fight. A small red blur was sailing through the air, and what sounded like small pops followed her. Were they any closer, everyone knew that those pops would have much louder. The red blur had pinned the large Nevermore that had flown over the temple earlier to the cliffside, with what looked like a scythe. It then dragged the large birdlike Grimm up the cliffside, the small pops sounding every few seconds.

“Using the kick of the gun for added momentum.” Ryder said, appreciatively. “That amazi-” Ryder stopped mid-sentence, and everyone stared wide-eyed, as the red scythe wielding blur had just beheaded the Nevermore as it reached the top of the cliff.

…

Other students had crowded around the large stage, watching the new students being assigned to their teams by Professor Ozpin. “Khaki Baskerville, Auburn Roselita, Cyan M. Herald, and Ebony I. Vory. The four of you retrieved the silver bishop pieces.” The headmaster of Beacon said, his arms behind his back, as the four students stood beside one another, and their faces appeared on a large screen. “From this day on you will work together as Team CAKE. Led by … Khaki Baskerville.” 

There was a scattering of applause, as Team CAKE stood to the side when Ozpin spoke once more. “Rouge Crimson, Umber R. A. Ven, Glacius Cerullian, and Eton Violeta. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day on you will work together as Team RUGE. Led by… Rouge Crimson.”

Another scattering of applause, that was silenced when Ozpin spoke again. “Ryder Argent, Dahlia Silverback, Rhea B. Rouge, and Ying Li Shang. The three of you retrieved the golden queen pieces. From this day on you will work together as Team RYDR. Led by…” He paused to look over the four of them longer than the others. “Ryder Argent.”


	5. Waking and classes

A moment before the alarm sounded on the nightstand, a pale hand searched on the nightstand table for it. Too late though, the annoying buzzing sounded causing the owner of the pale hand to clench it in sleepy irritation. The hand then closed around the alarm clock, both hitting the snooze button, and tossing the clock across the room. Ryder groaned, and tried to fall back to sleep. However, sleep would elude him this morning, Dahlia nudged him insitingly.

“Ryder wake up. Class starts at nine.” She said, and rolled her eyes at her team leader when he pulled his blankets over his head with another tired groan.

“Alright fine then.” Dahlia said in a slight sing-song tone. She gripped the end of the blankets on Ryder’s bed, and gave them a hearty tug. The covers flew off, revealing Ryder, and to Dahlia’s surprise Ying had her arms wrapped securely around the pale-skinned young man.

“Ying?” Dahlia asked in clear surprise. “You two sleep together.”

Ryder groaned, brushing his hair out of his eyes as he sat up. “Ying is afraid of the dark. It’s been that way since we were kids.” Ryder explained, running his fingers through Yings hair as she sat up with a tired groan of her own.

“So, the two of you sleep together?” Dahlia asked, tilting her head in curiosity. Though she did find the situation rather heartwarming.

“Yes, but it’s not in the way you think.” Ryder said rubbing his eyes. 

“Ah, nothing … Physical happens?” Dahlia asked, her cheeks reddening slightly.

Both Ryder and Ying shook their heads, as Ying brushed sleep from her eyes. When Dahlia was satisfied, she began waking the fourth member of the team. Rhea proved far more difficult to wake up than Ryder was, so Dahlia finally decided to dump a bottle of water onto the redheads face.

Rhea coughed, and spluttered as she shook the covers off of her. “Curse you for breathing, you slack-jawed idiot!” She cursed, before her bright crimson eyes focused on Dahlia.

“Morning sunshine.” Dahlia said with a smile, holding up the empty bottle. 

In the dorm room next to Team RYDR, Rouge Crimson woke with a start from where he had fallen asleep on the floor of his dorm. Rouge preferred to sleep on the ground, as being a warrior trained to fight and kill Grimm from a young age, Rouge slept where he could. Mostly on harder surfaces than the beds provided to all Beacon students. Rheya’s shouts at Dahlia were what woke the large red haired young man. 

“It’s too early for this.” Rouge groaned, as he picked up his stuffed Ursa.

A mug of steaming coffee was then thrust under Rouge’s nose, and the smell alone was enough for all form a sleep to be erased. Umber smiled down from where he sat on the bed Rouge had neglected to use. Lenore perched on his right shoulder, with her head tilted to the side. “Looked like you could use this.”

As Rouge sipped, he also noted that Umber was already dressed in the Beacon Academy uniform. “How long have you been awake?” 

“I … Uh … I don’t sleep.” Umber cast his bright silver eyes down. “Insomnia kinda prevents that.”

Tired as he was, Rouge gave his team mate an apologetic smile, before Lenore turned her attention over to the sleeping forms of Eton, and Glacius. Umber shifted to face his two still sleeping teammates. This action made Rouge wonder if Umber somehow saw through Lenore's eyes. “Are those two still asleep?”

“It’s six in the morning.” Umber said, a soft laugh in his voice.

“Well why are they,” Rouge gestured to the wall, and the laughs from Team RYDR on the other side. “Awake at this time?”

“Classes start in three hours.” Umber replied, as he turned to his attention to Eton and Glacius’ sleeping forms. “Should we wake them?” 

Rouge gave a nod and a grunt of affirmation as he stood, placing the now empty coffee mug on a nightstand by his vacated bed. Rouge had to duck though, as Glacius aimed what would have been a very vicious smack at his right cheek. She fixed Rouge with a furious glare as she stood up with the blankets from her bed wrapped around her.

“Woah, take it easy Glacius!” Rouge said, as he ducked again. “Don’t tell me that you…?”

“Sleep naked. Yes.” Glacius said icily, and Rouge and Umber turned around immediately turned their backs to Glacius, to allow her to get dressed. When Glacius gave the two the okay, both her and Eton were dressed in their school uniforms. That left Rouge as the only one of his team who was still in dressed in his bedclothes. 

“But do I have to wear the tie?” Rouge asked, as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. The piece of red cloth hung loose and untied over his shoulders. 

“Yes, you do.” Having seemingly forgotten the little incident from earlier, when Rouge attempted to uncover her, Glacius strode over and knotted the strand of red cloth expertly around Rouge’s neck. She left it loose towards the base of his neck so he wouldn’t attempt to roughly loosen it during classes. “But why choose to sleep on the floor?”

“To me, beds feel like I’m sleeping on a case full of mashed potatoes.” Rouge replied, and gave the back of his crimson hair a light scratch. 

“You couldn’t have been a soldier,. Forgive me, but you're far too young.” Glacius said, her brow furrowing. 

“No, it’s part of how I was trained.” Rouge replied. “I was raised outside the walls. My family as well as the tribe I lived in, raised all males from the age of seven to be warriors. We tracked, hunted down and killed all manner of Grimm, before being sent to various hunting schools around the world.”

“And you chose to come to Beacon?” Glacius asked, and Rouge nodded in response. 

Several hours later saw Teams RYDR, RUGE, AND CAKE in a lecture class held by Beacon Professor Peter Port. An slightly elder man with a rounded belly, and a well kept silver moustache that seemed to bounce whenever he spoke. Ryder sat in one of the middle rows in the classroom that resembled an ampetheater, and was diligently taking notes, as was the rest of his team. Rouge sat in the front row, enjoying Professor Port’s stories about the adventures he had when he was a younger man. He was also trying to stifle a laugh due to the shenanigans going on by the young girl on his right. Ruby Rose, who just so happened to be the small red scythe wielding blur, that had decapitated the Nevermore the day before.

Khaki who sat in the row above and behind Rouge, had pointed out that Ruby was two years ahead of her class at Signal Academy. The school that younger students attend before heading to Beacon. Beacon’s headmaster Professor Ozpin was impressed with Ruby’s skill with her scythe Crescent Rose several days before Beacon’s initiation, and had personally invited her to Beacon. Coincidentally, she was also the leader of the aptly named Team RWBY.

Although, not all of Ruby’s team was enjoying her shenanigans while Professor Port’s back was turned. The young white-haired girl, who was a member of the Schnee family, was grinding her teeth, her irritation at Ruby seemingly growing by the second. Apparently Schnee’s irritation had peaked when Professor Port asked who would like to demonstrate their skills. Schnee stood up at once, voulanteering herself.

Professor Port seemed delighted, as Schnee stepped up to face whatever challenge he had in store. She drew a thin rapier from where it was sheathed on her left hip, and Professor Port smiled, and motioned to a large cage that neither Team RYDER, RUGE, or CAKE had noticed before. There was a menacing growl eminating from between the bars, and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind, that there was some sort of Grimm in that cage. Schnee readied herself for whatever it was Professor Port had in store. The round man brought down the blade of his weapon on the cage’s lock, and as the door fell to the floor with a loud clang, a very large and very angry Boarbatusk Grimm charged out of the cage.

“Come on Weiss, show it who’s boss!” Ruby was obviously on the edge of her seat, or rather bouncing on the balls of her feet seeing as how she wasn’t seated. The Schnee or Weiss as she was called, had been disarmed when the Boarbatusk caught her rapier between its tusks, and tossed it to the other end of the class. Weiss to her credit, was fast enough to get away from those nasty looking tusks, and retrieve her weapon. 

“Weiss aim for its belly! There’s no armor underneath!” Ruby exclaimed excitedly.

“Stop talking! I’m losing focus!” Weiss snapped at Ruby, and a small spike of anger shot through Ruge at the Schnee’s words. The Boarbatusk curled itself into a ball, and shot forward almost blindingly fast. Weiss lept out of the Grimm’s path, up into the air, and onto some sort of Glyph. Whatever that Glyph was, it must have bolstered Weiss’ speed and strength, as she shot forward, and plunged her rapier into and through the underside of the Boarbatusk to applause from the entire class.


	6. Revelations

Ryder sat within the spacious office belonging to Professor Ozpin, Beacon Academy’s headmaster. He’d been explaining everything of why he had come to Beacon, and the only notion that Ozpin made that he was listening, was him taking a sip from his mug every now and then. 

“Is that everything Mr. Argent?” Ozpin finally asked, following a long silence.

“Yes sir.” Ryder said. “That’s everything I know I know about what my father is planning.”

The corners of Ozpin’s lips turned down in a slight frown. He stood up, and strode to look out of the large window behind his desk. “If what you say is true Mr. Argent, it’s not just Vale that in danger of this threat your father poses, but all of Remnant.”

“Does that mean you’re going to do something sir?” Ryder asked, as a jolt of excited fear shot through his stomach.

Ozpin paused, saying nothing for a long while as he continued to gaze out of the window at the Academy below. “No.”

Ryder couldn’t believe what Ozpin had just said. The whole reason Ryder was here, not just in Professor Ozpin, but in Beacon, was because he had heard of how many people of Remnant idolized Ozpin, and if there was anyone who could do anything about Ryder’s father’s mad plan, it would have been the headmaster of Beacon. 

“But sir-” Ryder began, before he was cut off.

“We’re in a time of peace Mr. Argent.” The headmaster began. “If I was to act on what information you have, the people of Vale would wonder what I was doing. I would not lie to them of course, and it would cause a panic within the kingdom. And that would draw the Grimm.”

“But sir, something has to be done!” Ryder exclaimed, rising from his seat. An almost pleading tone in his voice.

“I said _I_ would not take action, due to my not wanting to make the people of Vale panic.” Professor Ozpin said, turning his head to look at Ryder over his right shoulder. And Ryder wondered why he was smiling. “I said nothing about not allowing you to do something about preventing what your father has planned.”

Ryder closed his mouth, only just realizing that it was slightly agape. Finding his voice, he asked. “Sir, does that mean you’re giving me a mission?”

“As it turns out Mr. Argent I am.” Ozpin strode over to his large desk. Setting his cane against it, Ozpin placed both of his hands on his desk palms down. A map of Vale suddenly appeared on the smooth surface of the glass. A small red blinking dot caught Ryder’s attention. “Grimm have been spotted dangerously close to one of the communication towers to the Scroll network.”

Ryder stared at the blinking dot on the map, his eyebrows knitted together. “Sir, this is outside the wall.”

“It is.” Ozpin said. “And this was taken off a Grimm corpse by a huntsman, who was attacked very close to the Scroll tower.” Ozpin placed a piece of cloth on the desk, as the map of Vale vanished. Ryder felt ice drop into his stomach, as he stared at it. The cloth was jet black, and upon the cloth was a bright silver number six, with four horses in front of the number. His father’s symbol.

Ryder’s right hand clenched into a fist tightly around the cloth, as he had taken it from Ozpin’s desk to stare at it. His dark eyes seemed to have become even darker, and despite his already pale skin, his knuckles were white, and his hand was shaking. 

Ying was pacing back and forth in front of the elevator that lead to Ozpin’s office. Dahlia had leaned back against a wall, staring at the doors to the elevator, she shot a small glare at the fourth member of Team RYDR who was slurping noisily from a tall glass.

“That’s your fifth Strawberry Sunrise.” Dahlia said in both surprise and irritation. “Can’t you show some restraint?”

Rheya smiled at Dhalia, despite the other girl’s irritation. “They’re good.” She said, and handed the tall glass towards her teammate. “Want a sip?” 

“I’ll pass. I don’t really like them.” Dhalia replied shaking her head, as the elevator dinged, and the doors slid apart.

“Ryder?” Ying began, as her team leader stepped out of the elevator. She was worried, having noted the dark determined look on his face. 

“Rheya, go get Team CAKE. We’ve got a mission.” Ryder said, in a barking tone.

The red haired girl’s blood red eyes widened in shock, at Ryder’s tone, but Dahlia stepped in, her eyes narrowed at Ryder. “What mission? What’s going on? And what is that in your hand.”

Ryder’s attention flicked to the cloth he hadn’t realized was still in his hand. “It’s… Very complicated.” He looked to his team. From Rheya’s look of surprise, to Dahlia’s suspicious glare, finally to Ying’s look of concern. He took a deep breath, he had to tell his team. They had a right to know. Well at least Dhalia, and Rheya did, seeing as how Ying knew this story already. “My father has become a madman. He is trying to prove to the world that more hunters are needed, but he’s going at it with an extreme measure. He’s creating an army … An army of Grimm in an attempt to send a message to Remnant, and to wipe out as many Grimm as he can.”

Dahlia and Rheya shared looks of horror at what Ryder had shared with them. There was a long moment of silence that passed between Team RYDR, before Dahlia found her voice. “And what does that have to with this mission, and that piece of cloth in your hand?”

“Grimm have been spotted near one of the Scroll towers outside the wall.” Ryder explained. “They were able to deactivate it somehow, and this was found among one of the Grimm corpses. It’s my father’s mark.” Ryder handed the scrap of cloth to Dahlia, whose brown eyes widened along with Rheya’s.

“I’ll go get Team CAKE then.” Rheya said, her voice a little shaky as she ran off to find Khaki.

The sun was high in the sky, when Team CAKE met up with Team RYDR on one of Beacon’s landing pads. Both teams had their weapons, but Khaki along with the rest of his team seemed to be utterly confused. Ebony just seemed irritated. 

“What are we doing Ryder?” Khaki asked, his brow furrowed.

Dahlia groaned audibly as by means of apology for having barked at her earlier, Ryder handed Rheya another large Strawberry Sunrise. “This will take a while to explain Khaki.” Ryder said, running a hand through his hair. “You might want to sit down on the airship.”


	7. First Hunt Part 1

Khaki sat across from Ryder, his elbows resting on his knees, and the tips of his fingers lightly pressed together. Ryder had just finished explaining to Team CAKE, what he had told Professor Ozpin, and the rest of his own team about his father’s goals, and their current mission. Khaki was deep in thought, putting all the pieces he had been told together. Auburn sat on Khaki’s left, and although she did not speak, her eyes told everyone who looked at her that she was clearly frightened. Cyan sat on Auburn’s left, her right foot was tapping rapidly, and she was nervously chewing on her bottom lip. To Khaki’s right sat Ebony, who despite attempting to keep up her annoyed appearance, like Auburn she gave away how she felt about this situation in her eyes.

“So your father is building up an army of Grimm.” Khaki began. “In an attempt to show that more Huntsmen are needed, and to wipe out as many Grimm as he can. The question is why?”

Ebony groaned and rolled her eyes. “Don’t start this.” She began, but Khaki waved her protest away. 

“The man’s deranged. Obvious given his ultimate goal. However, from how you described your father, it seems as if what he’s planning started as another’s goal. Possibly his wife, your mother’s goal. Taken up by your father, but the loss of his wife twisted the goal due to severe depression over her death. That depression gave way to insanity over the years, and caused your opinion of him to deteriorate, though your younger siblings stayed indifferent towards him.”

“How could you possibly know about my siblings?” Ryder asked, completely astonished.

“I simply observed you when you spoke about your father.” Khaki replied. “Certain tells gave you away when you spoke about your father. They were easy enough to pick up, and they said that you are the eldest sibling in a family of four. Three brothers, one sister who is the second youngest among the others. Your youngest brother is suffering from a sickness that he’s had since birth, and the last, the brother that followed your birth is unstable to say the least.”

Ryder sat there in shock for several moments after Khaki’s ‘observation’. Everything he had said was completely correct. “How…? Is… Is this your Semblance?”

“No.” Khaki replied shaking his head. “It’s just something I was taught.”

“Who taught you?” Ryder asked. 

“My father. Watson Baskerville, chief of Haven Police.” Khaki said, drumming his fingertips together.

Ebony huffed, and turned her back on Khaki scowling as she did. “Could be worse. Could be Atlas Police.”

Everyone on Team RYDR turned to look at the upstart member of Khaki’s team in confusion. It was as if they were all asking the same question: _What does she mean by that_? Khaki cleared his throat, preparing to speak, but Ebony whirled around, and gave her team leader a venomous glare that stated one thing: _Don’t you even think about it_.

Khaki’s expression remained neutral, as he looked at Ebony. He drummed his fingertips together once again, before he turned back to Team RYDR. “It’s not my story to tell.”

“What about the two of you?” Ying asked, nodding towards Cyan and Auburn after a moment.

Auburn ducked her head as she produced her scroll. She tapped the fingers of her right hand against the screen of her scroll for a few seconds, before she showed Team RYDR what she had typed. _Do I have to_?

Cyan placed a hand on Auburn’s shoulder in a comforting manner, before she spoke. “Auburn and I are from … Well from a village on an island south of Vale.”

“I’ve never heard of any island south of Vale.” Ryder began. “Have any of you?” Dhalia, Rheya, Ying, Ebony, and even Khaki all shook is their heads. 

“I wouldn’t think so.” Cyan began. “It’s not on any map in Remnant. But this island is where we grew up. Our ancestors fled there to avoid the war with the Grimm at the start of our known history. They barely got to that island, as a horrible monsterous sea-dwelling Grimm attacked their boats.”

Ryder felt a chill go down his spine. He’d never heard of any sort of Grimm that lived in the ocean before, and with the way cyan had described this Grimm, he doubted that even the teachers at Beacon even with the aid of Professor Ozpin could stand against it. 

Cyan continued to speak, as that chill ran down Ryder’s spine. “They were saved by someone who had an ability to manipulate Dust at its rawest form through song. It was this maiden who forced the Grimm back beneath the waves.”

“A very early Semblance.” Dhalia said, leaning forward. “Probably one of the earliest ones in existence.”

Cyan nodded in affirmation. “That was Auburn’s ancestor. That Semblance has been inhereted in her family since the defeat of that sea-dwelling Grimm.”

“So what brings you two back to Remnant?” Dhalia asked, her armored fingers interlocked, and her chin resting on the top of her fingers.

Cyan and Auburn looked at one another for a moment, before Auburn nodded. Almost as if she was giving her companion the okay to tell the rest of the story. Cyan took a deep breath, before continuing. “Well for the longest time, the maiden who had saved our colony was revered as it’s protector. However, over the years our people have begun to believe that we can get along without the protection of what we have come to call the Dust Songstress. In those years since that doubt began to build, Auburn and I were born.”

“And the reason Auburn doesn’t like to talk?” Ryder asked.

“Since the doubt of the need of the Songstress’ protection began, Auburn’s mother has drilled it into her that using her Semblance is a bad idea.” Cyan stated. “The reason being, is that it is so strong, when the Songstress begins singing, she gains control of Dust in any form. Even Dust buried beneath the earth. Auburn’s mother drilled the fact that her Semblance shouldn’t be used under any circumstances. It was drilled into her so often, it was effective enough to even prevent her from speaking, as Auburn thinks that even talking will activate her Semblance.”

Team RYDR and Ebony stared at Auburn. Torn between amazement at her powerful Semblance, and shock at the revelation to Auburn’s aversion to speaking. Ying slowly placed her hand under Ryder’s chin, and gently closed his mouth, as it was agape. Khaki nodded in an almost bored manner, he must have known already, or rather had figured it out by observing how Auburn had conducted herself.

All form of conversation at that point was cut off, as the pilot of their airship notified them he would have to set down a ways away from the offline Scroll Tower due to Grimm overactivity.

Ryder rolled his dark eyes, as their pilot took off after leaving them on the roof of an abandoned parking garage in the old section of Vale. He sighed, as he took out his own Scroll and consulted it’s map.

“Our objective is here.” He said, pointing to a dot that was blinking red to blue. “Some two miles away.”

“In this place, two miles is a lot of ground to cover.” Rheya said, her right hand gripping Red Mist in its scabbard. “There are a lot of Grimm between here and there.”

“Dozens of hostiles are all around our location.” Dhalia said, looking through the scope of the combination spear and rifle she called Cold Steel. “If we want to get to that tower, we’re going to have to fight through them.”

“That’s a bad idea.” Khaki said.

“Do you have a better suggestion then?” Dhalia scowled at Khaki, as she looked up from Cold Steel’s scope.

Sensing a potential argument, Ryder stepped in between Khaki and Dhalia. “Alright, let’s keep level heads here.” He said, before turning to Team CAKE’s leader. “Khaki, you want to take us through it?”

Khaki stepped up to peer out over the ruined cityscape, spotting the Scroll Tower in the distance. “Buildings across the street, we can get in through there. Doorways are too small for any Grimm to fit in. We can use them to get to the tower undetected, bring it back online, and come back here for extraction.”

“Alright…” Dhalia began. “But I see a small problem with that plan.”

“Go on.” Khaki began, in a tone that clearly stated he’d already found a solution.

“How do we get across the street?” Dhalia asked. “It’s swarming with Beowulf’s.”

“Twelve feet across.” Khaki replied. “From sidewalk to sidewalk, the buildings are twelve feet apart. Ryder’s Semblance extends to twelve feet in any direction. Once on the ground floor, he uses it to allow us to cross undetected.”

Dhalia huffed in a sort of ‘why do I bother’ manner, as Cold Steel became a spear once more. Slowly so as not to make any noise that would attract the Grimm, the two Hunter teams moved down to the ground level of the parking garage they had been dropped off on. Everyones heartbeat picked up several paces when they saw just how many Grimm were swarming the street when they reached the ground floor. Ryder motioned for everyone to get themselves behind cover before they were spotted, and everyone scrambled to duck behind the ruined husks of cars as quietly as they could. 

Mouthing for everyone to keep low and quiet, Ryder slowly moved from cover to cover trying to keep as quiet as he could. Once or twice, a Beowulf looked in their direction, causing everyone to quickly hide behind the husk of a car. There was a collective sigh of relief whenever the Grimm turned its attention elsewhere, and finally everyone reached the small concrete barricade that separated the abandoned structure from the street beyond.

Slowly unsheathing her dagger, Ebony used the reflection from the weapons blade to peer into the street, and check if the coast was clear for Ryder to activate his Semblance. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Ebony signaled to Team RYDR’s leader. Ryder extended his right hand, and snapped his fingers. Any Grimm that heard the sound, were immediately frozen in time when the twelve foot bubble in which Ryder could control the flow of time expanded outward.

“Never fails to impress me that you can do that.” Khaki said, gazing at the frozen Beowulfs.

“Glad to see you’re impressed by something.” Ryder replied. “But let’s move, I can only use my Semblance for a minute thirty seconds.”

As quick as they could, everyone made their way out of cover, past the frozen Beowulf’s, and across the street to what looked like equally abandoned apartment buildings. Once safely behind cover again, Ryder snapped his fingers dissolving the twelve foot area in which time had stopped. The Grimm fell to the ground a split second later, having been sliced into neat even pieces, moments before dissolving into ash. Knowing who it was, Ryder looked to Ying, who at that moment had her weapons in her hands. They were in the process of folding back from a pair of katanas, into their base form of a pair of bladed tonfas.

Ying’s violet eyes met Ryder’s dark ones, and she simply shrugged thinking it was a good idea to eliminate the Grimm while they were trapped in time. Almost as if he could read her thoughts, Ryder nodded in both understanding, and approval.  
“Let’s move.” Ryder said, as he stood and helped Ying to her feet.

“How long have you two been together?” Dhalia asked, her brow furrowed. She’d noticed the small exchange between the two, and couldn’t stop herself from asking. 

“A long time.” Both of them replied at once. 

“But just as Nora describes her relationship with Ren.” Ryder began. “We’re not ‘together’ together.”


	8. First Hunt Part 2

On the roof of one of the abandoned apartment buildings, everyone ducked as a large Nevermore flew overhead. The large Grimm gave one long roaring call as it flew out towards the mountains on the horizon. There was another collective sigh of relief, when the Grimm became a tiny spot on the horizon. 

“That was far too close.” Dhalia breathed, as she looked at the Nevermore through Cold Steel’s scope.

“I think it’s a little out of range.” Ryder said, as the dot that was the Nevermore became smaller and smaller.

“Even at this range, I could bring it down.” Dhalia replied coldly, as she brought Cold Steel’s bolt forward and down to chamber a dust round.

Ryder reached out and placed a hand on Cold Steel’s barrel. “Let’s not draw attention to ourselves.”

“That Grimm could be a scout for your father.” Dhalia replied, her right index finger lightly touching Cold Steel’s trigger.

For a moment, Ryder became overcome with the urge to allow Dhalia to shoot the Nevermore down. If that Grimm was indeed a spy for his father, he did not want him reporting back to the mad man with his current position. Yet at the same time, he knew that if he allowed his teammate to bring down the Grimm, they would attract the attention of the hundreds of Grimm swarming the streets below. No the risk was far too great to allow Dhalia to fire.

“Let it go Dhalia.” Ryder said more to himself than to Dhalia. In his mind, Ryder wondered if he had done the right thing by making this call, or if it would come back to bite him.

Dhalia nodded, though she saw how conflicted Ryder was about making the call for her not to bring down the Nevermore. “Let’s hope this doesn’t come back to haunt us.”

“We’re a hundred yards away from the tower.” Ryder replied. “We should get moving.”

“There’s no more cover after this building.” Rheya said, as she looked to the streets below which were swarming with Grimm. “We’re going to have to fight our way through them to reach the tower.”

“We’ll have to hit them hard and fast.” Ying said, glancing and Ryder and then Khaki wondering if they had come up with a plan. 

“Under the circumstances Ying, you and Rheya are our best options.” Ryder said. “Rheya, your Semblance is very similar to Ruby’s, and Ying you can quite literally strike from the shadows, despite your aversion to doing so.”

“No gunfire though.” Khaki added. “No need to draw attention to us.”

Ying sighed, as she stood up. She didn’t want to use her Semblance, but in this moment she had no other choice. Her teammates were relying on her and Rheya in order to get them to that downed Scroll tower. Her bladed tonfas appeared in her hands, as Rheya drew Red Mist from its scabbard. She took a few steps back, before running at full sprint and leaping off the roof of the abandoned apartment followed not a second later by Rheya.

The wind whistled past their ears, as Ying’s heartbeat picked up several paces. Her body quickly became a shadowy wisp, not a second before she hit the ground and vanished into a Beowulf’s shadow. The Grimm was momentarily frozen in place, a split second before it was cleaved in half from head to foot by one of Ying’s weapons. As the Beowulf dissolved into ash, the shadowy wisp that was Ying jumped into the shadow of another Beowulf, and quickly dispatched that Grimm before moving on to another.

At the same time Ying became a literal shadow, Rheya ran a hand her left hand along Red Mist’s blade. The cutlass glowed and crackled with the same red lightning she had fired from Red Mist’s gun mode during the Beacon initiation. That red lightning, then spread from Red Mist’s blade, and up Rhea’s right arm, until her entire body looked like one giant red bolt of lightning. She hit the ground, and shot forward and quite literal lightning speeds. The only trace of where she currently was, or had been was a red glare in one’s eyes, that was not unlike what one sees after the flash of a camera goes off.

The two young women cut their way through the hordes of Grimm that surrounded the Scroll tower in just under a minute. Ying emerged from the shadow of the final Beowulf she had dispatched a split second before, as Rheya came to a stop beside her, the red lightning vanishing from her body and her weapon in the same instance. 

“That was fun.” Rheya said, placing Red Mist back in its scabbard. 

“Let’s never do that again.” Ying said, trying to control how badly her hands were shaking.

Team CAKE and the other two members of Team RYDR joined the two young women not long after they had cleared the area of Grimm. Sighing in relief after Ryder lightly ran his fingers through her hair, Ying’s hands slowly began to stop shaking. 

“I hate doing that.” Ying said, shuddering lightly.

“I know Ying.” Ryder replied comfortingly. “But we’d be fighting hundreds more Grimm if you and Rheya had not dispatched the other Grimm just now.”

Ying nodded, and removed Ryder’s hand from the top of her head. Moments later, both teams moved to enter the downed Scroll tower. There was no sign of a struggle inside, which meant no Grimm had gotten in.

“Nothing’s been damaged.” Dhalia began. “But there are no guards. I thought these towers were all guarded heavily.”

“This is odd.” Ryder agreed, drawing Fourth from its scabbard and transitioning it to a yet before seen gun mode resembling an assault rifle. “Everyone keep your eyes open, and your weapons up.” 

Both Hunter teams moved slowly through the Scroll tower, Ying and Khaki in the lead with their smaller weapons in the lead. Auburn with Cyan behind her brought up the rear. Cyan unlike her initiation in Beacon’s forest, did not use her bell hammer, but instead had a large magnum in both of her hands.

“Nothing.” Ryder said, after almost every room in the tower had been cleared. “No guards, no sign of a struggle, not even another trace of my father’s men.” 

“Perhaps that was the only trace of your father’s men.” Ying said, in mention to the piece of cloth with the emblem of his father embroidered upon it.

“If that’s true Ying, then why is it there is no sign of anything else happening here?” Ryder asked. “Other than the tower being offline, there’s nothing out of place.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Khaki said, walking up to the two. “You’ll want to see this.”

Khaki led Ryder and Ying into the last room in the Scroll tower. The main control room, like the other rooms in the tower, had nothing out of place. Or rather almost nothing out of place. One of the control screens was flashing red, and had a Queen chess piece on the center of the screen.

“What in the world?” Ryder asked in initial shock.

“Who uses this symbol?” Dhalia asked, as she stepped up to Ryder’s left side to get a good look at the flashing screen. 

“Found it.” Khaki’s voice reached their ears, and second later he appeared from behind the screen.

“What were you doing behind there?” Ryder asked.

“The same thing I’ve been doing since we entered this place.” Khaki replied. “I was looking for anything that was out of place. And I found something out of place, subtle as it is.”

“Well don’t keep us in suspense.” Ryder replied, as an odd feeling settled over him.

“This.” Khaki held up a Scroll that was not his. The screen was flashing red, and had the same queen chess piece that was flashing on the control screen. “This Scroll was used as an override device, and this is what brought the tower offline.”

“Nice work.” Ryder congratulated. “We’ll take that back to Professor Ozpin, but let’s see about getting this thing functional again.”

“Already ahead of you.” Khki said, as his fingers began to dance along the keyboard connected to the flashing red screen. “Should be any second now.”

The moment Khaki hit the ‘Enter’ key, a horridly loud alarm sounded. Everyone jumped, and leveled their weapons. The exception being Auburn, who hid behind Cyan as she leveled her large magnum.

“What happened Khaki!?” Ryder yelled over the sounding alarm. 

“I’m unsure, I know I did not do anything wrong!” Khaki replied.

“Well can you shut this thing off!?” Ryder asked, but he needn’t have asked. Khaki was already back at the console, attempting to shut off the alarm.

“Damn!” Khaki cursed, as he hit the keyboard with his fist. “The system’s locked me out.”

“Can’t you reset it!?” Ebony asked, her eyes wide, though still seemingly annoyed.

“I could if I had fifteen minutes.” Khaki replied, before Ryder grabbed his upper left forearm.

“We don’t have fifteen minutes!” He said over the alarm. “Every Grimm in the area is gonna be all over this place in the next five minutes. We need to go now!”

“Agreed.” Khaki replied. “No sense in keeping a low profile now either.”

As fast as they could, the two teams made for the tower exit. The first sight that greeted them, was hordes of Grimm swarming the streets, heading straight towards the downed tower.

“Back to the parking garage!” Ryder yelled, a moment before he snapped fourth up, and opened fire on a section of Grimm that had come from the rough direction they needed to go. One or two Grimm dropped, but the others simply shrugged off the bullets.

Someone placed their hand on Fourth, and lowered the weapon. What shocked Ryder more than someone telling him to lower his weapon, was who it had been. Auburn stepped up, no longer seeming to be the timid girl who did not like to speak. She ran her hands along the sleeves of her reddish-brown cloak, and what seemed to be Dust glowed on a previously unseen pattern of her cloak.

“She’s sewn Dust into her clothes.” Ryder said to himself in amazement, as Auburn struck out her left hand palm up, and fingers slightly curled. The horde of Grimm stopped dead in their tracks, as Auburn brought her right hand down on top of her left. What seemed like a powerful shockwave crushed the Grimm, and it was only a second later that Ryder realized that Auburn had used gravity control dust on the charging horde.

Ryder opened his mouth to say something, but Khaki grabbed his arm. “Marvel later. Run now.”

To Ryder, it was like being chased in the forest during initiation all over again. The difference being that there were more than just Beowulfs chasing them. A Boarbatusk had slammed itself into Ebony’s back, instantly knocking her out from severe pain, as there had been a loud and sickening crack when the Grimm had slammed into her. Dhalia was limping badly, as a Creep spike had pierced her left leg. The teams were somehow able to hold off the charging horde of Grimm long enough to stop the bleeding and stabilize Dhalia’s leg, but she was in serious need of medical attention. 

“Not much farther now. Ryder said panting. Dhalia was rather heavy in all the armor she had on, as she was leaning against Ryder for support. 

“You said that ten minutes ago.” Dhalia groaned, as she attempted to put pressure on her leg. 

“Hang on, I’ll buy us more time.” Ryder turned, making Dhalia groan in protest. He brought Fourth up, and fired an explosive shell from the weapon’s grenade launcher. The resulting explosion took six or seven Grimm down, making the others recoil slightly. “That bought us a minute, maybe two.”

“Every second counts right?” Dhalia groaned through gritted teeth, as they began moving again.

“Yeah. Every second counts.” Ryder replied, as he helped Dhalia along. “And what is your armor made out of?”

“Don’t you know it’s rude to ask a girl her weight?” Dhalia joked, in an attempt to forget about the piercing pain in her left leg. 

“Very funn- Oh thank the Maidens.” Ryder groaned as the parking garage came into sight. As fast as he could, Ryder dragged Dhalia into the abandoned structure and onto the roof, with the young woman groaning in protest every few seconds.

“Did anyone call for evacuation?” Ryder asked, setting Dhalia on a husk of an abandoned car that overlooked the area, before handing her back Cold Steel.

“About twenty minutes ago.” Khaki panted, setting an unconscious Ebony next to Dhalia. Khaki’s head had been cut just above his right eye, and his left arm was in a makeshift sling from his own coat, as the Borbatusk that knocked out Ebony had also broken Khaki’s arm. “Shouldn’t be long now.”

“Well they’d better hurry up.” Dhalia said as she fired Cold Steel. An ice crystal formed by Dust shot from the weapon’s barrel, and buried itself into the skull of a King Taijitu. Dhalia brought the bolt up and back, then forward and down to chamber the next round. She fired again, and brought down a Creep with her next shot. The Grimm’s spines shot out of the creatur’s body after its death, taking a few Ursa’s with it. Dhalia fired again, and her third shot brought down an Ursa Major. “They’re getting closer.”

“Nevermores!” Rheya yelled, turning Red Mist skyward. Red lightning arced from her weapon, as she fired at the large avian Grimm. She grunted in pain when her musket kicked against her shoulder, having suffered several broken ribbs from being slammed against a concrete wall by an Ursa Major. The Nevermore Rheya had shot at, was disintegrated when Red Mist’s lightning had hit it, and Rheya sighted on another of the large avean Grimm, and turned that one into dust a moment and a second grunt of pain later.

“This is bad.” Khaki groaned, as he fired one of his small pistols over the concrete barrier of the parking garage’s roof at the charging horde of Grimm. A Beowulf dropped, followed by an Ursa that had a crystal shard embedded in its head from Cold Steel. “At this rate we’ll be overrun.”

“We take as many of them as we can with us if that’s the case.” Ryder said, firing an explosive shell from Fourth’s grenade launcher, before transitioning his weapon to its assault rifle mode. He opened up on the charging horde of Grimm, feeling a knot in his stomach loosen whenever he killed a Grimm, then tighten even further when six more took its place. 

“If that evac doesn’t get here soon we-” Dhalia began, but she was cut off when someone began to sing. It was the most beautiful sound she had heard. That anyone had ever heard. The song had even halted the charging Grimm, as it seemed to have come from all directions. Yet to Cyan, she knew _exactly_ where it had come from. 

Auburn had stepped up next to Khaki, her hands clasped against her chest, her eyes closed as she continued to sing in that same wonderful voice. The Grimm then roared and howled in agony as Dust rose from the ground, and from Red Mist and Cold Steel. Grimm before everyone’s eyes were being burned, frozen, electrified, shredded by the wind, crushed by gravity, and being made to suffer any other effects that Dust causes when used in combat while Auburn sang in order to save her teammates. The ground began to shake, and to everyone’s left, a large and unrefined Dust crystal almost as tall as the Scroll tower rose from the ground. It floated through the air, until it was directly over the horde of suffering Grimm. Ryder’s eyes went wide, as the crystal glowed brightly and exploded. The resulting explosion leveled the surrounding area for hundreds of feet, and would have taken Team RYDR and CAKE with it, had Ryder not activated his Semblance. The large slab of concrete that supported both teams slowly made its way to the ground, and came to a rest with a soft but deep thunk on the pavement below. 

“That was awesome.” Ryder panted in exhaustion, deactivating his Semblance with a snap of his fingers. He wasn’t even aware that someone had helped him to his feet, as he had passed out a second later.


	9. Recovery

A Nevermore screeched, as it launched feathers from its wings like an expert with knives would throw their blades at their enemy. The large ebony feathers soared through the air, having been intended to impale a young human male with dark clothes and bright eyes. However to the surprise and anger of the large avian Grimm, the feathers were knocked away effortlessly by the young man’s companion. Glacious’ sword arm was nearly invisible, as she drew her wave shaped blade. She stabbed forward again and again, knocking the Nevermore’s feathers away as she defended Umber.

Umber paned, as he looked at Glacious. He had not seen the Nevermore, as he had been distracted by the pack of Ursas that were all laying bisected around him. “Thanks for the save.”

“Don’t thank me just yet.” Glacious replied, as she gripped her blade. The Nevermore screeched again, and launched more of its razor sharp feathers at the two members of Team RUGE. Glacious scowled, as she readied herself to knock away the Grimm’s projectile feathers, yet she needn’t have bothered. Rouge Crimson the leader of Team RUGE rolled in front of Glacious, his overlarge shield raised to intercept the Nevermore’s feathers. The large feathers hit Rouge’s shield with tremendous force, yet the large young man did not seem to be phased by the massive blows to his shield.

“Keep your feathers away from my teammates.” Rouge growled, as the rivets on his shield opened up. A salvo of small rockets flew out of Rouge’s shield, and blasted the Nevermore into thousands of tiny pieces.

“Rouge are you alright?” Glacious asked, having never seen anyone tank hits like that from a Nevermore’s feathers. Oversized shield or not that had to severely jarr Rouge’s arm. 

“That was nothing.” Rouge said, as the rivets on his shield closed. “My mother hits harder than that. And believe me that is saying something.”

“Well if you weren’t phased by those nevermore feathers, I don’t even want to think about how hard your mother can hit.” Umber sighed, leaning against the trunk of a tree in the Forever Forest close to Beacon. “If we’re done here, can we go back to the academy?”

Rouge was about to open his mouth to agree to Umber’s request to get back to Beacon, when one of the academy’s airships touched down a few yards from their location. The three members of Team RUGE looked at the transport vehicle in confusion, when Glynda Beacon’s deputy headmistress stepped out.

“Get on.” She barked, then added to her three students who felt as if they had done something to land them in serious trouble. “We just received a high priority distress call from outside the wall.”

“RYDR and CAKE are on mission outside the wall.” Glacious said, barely above a whisper.

“On the ship now.” Rouge barked. 

Rouge, Umber, and Glacious blinked in surprise when they saw that Eton was already aboard. The fourth member of Team RUGE explained that Glynda had found her just a few minutes earlier. What didn’t surprise the three was that Glynda had brought along two other teams. 

“What do we do ma’am?” Pyrrha Nikos of Team JNPR asked Glynda worriedly, as the airship took off.

“The distress signal from Mr. Baskerville’s Scroll is transmitting his and Team RYDR’s exact locations.” Glynda explained, as she looked at her Scroll. “At the moment, it appears they have stopped for some reason.

“I just hope it’s not because one of them are seriously hurt.” Eton said, her eyes downcast.

“They’re two of the best teams in Beacon.” Ruby said, though her expression was as worried as everyone else’s. “They should be fine right?”

“I hope so Ruby.” Came the reply from Ruby’s older sister Yang. “But there are a lot of Grimm outside the wall.”

“Search and destroy then.” Rouge said, gripping his shield.

“The emphasis on that being search Mr. Crimson.” Glynda barked at Rouge, as their airship flew over Vale’s main city as fast as it could go. “Mr. Baskerville’s Signal was received twenty minutes ago.”

Rouge looked out of one of the two open sliding doors of the airship, willing the transport ship to fly faster. While he was confidant that Team RYDR could hold their own, it was Team CAKE that he was worried about. Khaki’s team wasn’t composed of the most capable fighters in his mind, and if it was Khaki who sent that distress signal, every second counted if they planned on getting them out in one piece.

“The signal’s close.” Glynda said, snapping Rouge out of his thought. “It shouldn’t be-”

“Hang on.” Jaune said. “Does anybody else hear that?”

Nobody spoke, as they listened to the sound of someone singing. It was the most beautiful sound that anyone had ever heard. It was relaxing, yet invigorating at the same time. Yet what drew everyone’s attention, was all the Dust beginning to gather in one place, and destroy a large horde of Grimm.

“What in the world?” Rouge gaped in amazement.

“Hey what’s going on?” Ruby asked, having her sight of the scene obscured, as she was smaller than everyone else.

“See for yourself.” Rouge said, making room for Team RWBY’s leader.

“Woah… Hey look!” Ruby pointed to a large Dust crystal that had emerged from the ground.

“That’s an unrefined crystal!” Wiess exclaimed. “If that explodes, it’ll level the area for hundreds of feet!”

“Not only that, but it’ll take RYDR and CAKE with it!” Eton replied, spotting both teams in close proximity to the large crystal, yet was more amazed at the sight of hundreds of Grimm being destroyed by a multitude of Dust effects.

“Too late!” Pyrrha shouted, and everyone, but Rouge ducked out of the way of the open door. Rouge was the exception, as he placed his overlarge shield between the open door of the airship, and its occupants, in order to shield everyone from the explosion of the enormous Dust crystal.

“What the hell was that!?” Umber cursed, as he shook his head to rid himself of the ringing in his ears.

“The crystal exploded.” Rouge said, as Nora helped Umber back to his feet. “Oh hell… The crystal exploded!” 

Everyone looked out of the door again, once Rouge removed his large shield. The area was completely leveled for hundreds of feet in all directions from where the dust Crystal exploded. Everything except an odd transparent bubble twelve feet in diameter, that held both Team RYDR and CAKE inside of it. They were supported in mid-air by a slab of concrete that had not been destroyed in the crystal’s explosion. Though RWBY and JNPR were confused, Glynda and Team RUGE knew exactly what that bubble was, and who had created it. 

“Pilot, get us down there!” Glynda snapped. 

The airship touched down at the same moment the slab of concrete that supported RYDR and CAKE hit the ground. Rouge followed by Umber leapt out of the airship, Umber covering his team leader with his hatchet’s gun mode on Rouge’s right. Pyrrha’s rifle leveled, and covering Rouge’s left.

“That was awesome.” Ryder said, as Rouge helped him to his feet. Rouge scoffed as Ryder passed out a second later. Though what came out of the settling dust was far less awesome. A black scaled King Taijitu slithered out of the dust that was caused by the large Dust crystal exploding. The left side of the Grimm’s face was horribly torn up from the explosion. It hissed meanacingly, and struck out intending to devour one of the wounded students.

A gunshot rang out and the round exploded out of the back of the Grimm’s head. The King Taijitu fell right in front of the car that Dhalia was resting on. Rouge looked over his right shoulder to find that Umber had fired his weapon.

“Nice shot.” Rouge said, relaxing his grip on the shield in his left hand. 

“Thanks, but that wasn’t me.” Umber said lowering his weapon.

“Then who was it?” Rouge asked.

“I believe that was me.” Pyrrha said lowering her own weapon. There was a warm smile on her face, that seemed out of place to Rouge given the situation they were in.

Not a second after Pyrrha spoke up, taking credit for killing the King Taijitu, a large Nevermore fell on top of the previously injured Grimm. “That one was me.” Umber said, as both the Nevermore and the King Taijitu crumbled into dust. 

A sharp yelp of pain drew everyone’s attention to Dhalia. Eton was attempting to help her off of the husk of a vehicle that she had supported herself against, but progress was slow with how injured Dhalia’s leg was. Pyrrha immediately rushed over, and assisted Eton in helping Dhalia off the ruined vehicle, and into the airship. 

“What happened to you Ryder?” Rouge asked the unconscious boy as he helped him into the airship.

“I set off some sort of alarm when I brought the Scroll tower back online.” Khaki said with a wince, as Glynda checked on the status of his broken left arm. “The sound attracted every Grimm in the area. All of our injuries were sustained trying to fall back to what was our evacuation point.”

“Did you find anything while inside the tower?” Glynda asked, as Rheya was assisted into the airship by Umber, wincing as her ribs were broken.

“Just this.” Khaki said holding up the Scroll that was used to bring the tower offline.

Glynda’s eyes widened just the slightest bit, before they narrowed deeply on seeing the queen chess piece that flashed on the screen. “You should let me hold onto that Mr. Baskerville.” Glynda quickly snatched the Scroll from Khaki’s hand, as Ebony was carefully set next to Khaki when Weiss brought her in.

“That’s everyone.” Lie Ren said, tying a piece of cloth about Cyan’s upper right forearm.

“That’s a relief.” Jaune who wasTeam JNPR’s leader, said with a relieved sigh. “Now let’s get out of here before-”

Jaune was interrupted when a loud angry trumpeting made everyone who was still conscious jump. The ground underneath the airship began to tremble, and then shake violently as whatever had made that sound came ever closer.

“Something like that happens.” Jaune said with a defeated sigh.

Gripping his large shield, Rouge chanced a look outside. He sorely wished he hadn’t, when he saw the large elephantine Grimm charging at their airship. “Nothing’s ever simple is it?”

“That’s the story of my life.” Jaune replied nervously, as Pyrrha set a hand on her team leader’s shoulder in a comforting manner. 

Time seemed to slow as Rouge tried to think of something to do. If he fought the charging Grimm, the chances were incredibly high that he could end up just as injured as the members of Teams RYDR and CAKE were. But if nobody did anything, they could all die. Rolling his eyes and biting back a curse, Rouge jumped out of the airship and charged at the large Grimm. A single spear appeared in his right hand, Rouge stuck the spear in the ground, and used his momentum to vault into the air. 

The wind whipped past Rouge’s ears, as he drew level with the large elephantine Grimm. Not knowing if this was going to work, Rouge pressed the small switch on his shield. The rivets on his shield split, revealing the small cluster of rockets in his shield. Rouge jammed his thumb down on the switch, and the small cluster missiles shot from his shield. The large explosion threw Rouge back through the air, and weather or not it had killed that large Grimm he didn’t know, as something had grabbed the back of his armor. The next thing he knew, whatever had grabbed him in mid-air, deposited him back first onto the floor of the airship.

“That was incredibly reckless Mr. Crimson!” Glynda said, as she looked down at her student.

“It got us some time, didn’t it Professor?” Rouge asked, as he slowly stood up.

Glynda sighed, and shook her head in resignation. “It did indeed.”

The airship was was very high in the sky at this point, and far out of range for that large elephantine Grimm to do any damage to those aboard. If that Grimm was still alive, it did take several cluster missiles to its face after all. 

“Thanks Umber.” Rouge said, as a raven landed on his right shoulder. The raven ruffled its feathers in acknowledgement, as their airship passed the large wall that separated Vale from the old sector that was infested with Grimm. There was a collective sigh of relief from the still conscious members of the two injured teams, when the airships passed the wall.

Academy medics were waiting when the airship touched down. Ryder, Rheya, Dahlia, and Ebony were loaded onto stretchers, and immediately rushed to the infirmary. Khaki, Auburn, Cyan, and Ying followed close behind. Their injuries weren’t serious, though they did warrant a stay in Beacon’s medical infirmary. 

“I’m going with them.” Rouge said, as he made to follow the medics.

“So am I.” Glacious said. 

“I’m going too.” Eton replied. 

The chairs in Beacon’s infirmary weren’t exactly the most comfortable pieces of furniture in the academy, and every few minutes someone would switch their position to make themselves more comfortable. The only one of the twelve in the infirmary who looked remotely comfortable was Rouge, as he did prefer to sleep on the floor rather than in his bed. 

“We don’t all need to be here.” Weiss said a few hours after RYDR and CAKE’s admittance into the infirmary, as she attempted to loosen the knot in her lower back.

“Yeah you’re right.” Umber said stretching, before everyone looked at one another. It was in that moment, that all twelve students reached some sort of mutual understanding.

“Anybody want coffee?” Rouge asked, as he stood up. Eleven hands were raised into the air.


	10. Recovery part 2

Things were hazy for Ryder after he deactivated his Semblance in the ruined section of Vale. He drifted in and out of consciousness for hours, and he only caught bits and pieces of what was happening around him. He thought he heard a rather large explosion, and Professor Goodwitch scolding Rouge about something. He also thought he heard Rouge mention something about getting coffee, but everything was hazy after that. For how long after that he wasn’t sure, but the next thing he could recall he was looking up at the ceiling of Beacon’s infirmary.

Ryder blinked away the blurrs at the edge of his vision as he attempted to sit up. That proved to be far more difficult than he thought, as every part of his body was very stiff. He must have been out for far longer than he thought. He groaned as several of his joints popped, as he stretched and sat up. Though he wasn’t prepared for the large hand that was pressed lightly against his chest.

 

“Woah, woah, woah. Take it easy Ryder.” Rouge said, preventing his friend from getting out of his infirmary bed. “You’ve been out for a pretty long time.”

“How long exactly?” Ryder groaned.

“About five days now.” Rouge replied, taking a sip from a mug from which Ryder could discern the scent of what was unmistakibly hazelnut.

“You have any more of that?” Ryder asked, nodding towards Rouge’s mug. Rouge scoffed slightly, and handed Ryder his mug who downed the whole thing in one gulp, but made a face after. “Jeez, take a little coffee with your sugar?”

“Sorry.” Rouge chuckled. “We’ve kinda been living on the stuff for the past few days.”

“Uh, whose ‘we’?” Ryder asked, to which Rouge jerked his head. The rest of Team Ruge was sitting on the opposite end from where the infirmary beds were. Glacious’ was almost slumped on the floor she was sunk so deep in her seat. Eton’s head was resting on Umber’s right shoulder, and Umber smiled and gave Ryder a wave of acknowledgement. 

“Does he not sleep?” Ryder asked, turning his attention back to Rouge.

Rouge gave a grim smile, and shook his head. “Insomnia.”

Ryder stammered for a few seconds, unable to come up with a reply as he looked at Rouge in shock. The larger boy nodded, his grim smile still etched on his face. 

A small groan drew their attention. Dahlia had woken up, but let out a high-pitched yelp of pain and grasped her leg, which was now elevated in a medical sling. “Ow!

“You shouldn’t try to move that leg.” Ryder said, thankful for a change of subject, however grim the subject was.

“Glad to see you’re awake.” Dahlia replied, wincing as her leg twinged with a numb pain. “Oh I think this hurts worse than when that spike went through my leg.”

“You’re in one piece though.” Ryder replied. 

“That’s true.” Dahlia said with a slight smile.

“I’m glad you’re alright.” Ryder said, returning Dahlia’s smile. “Wait, where are the others?”

As if on cue, Ying entered the infirmary pushing that wheelchair that Rheya was sitting in. Both of them smiled upon seeing that their teammates were now awake. Ying set Rheya’s chair right in front of Ryder’s bed, before flinging her arms around Ryder’s neck.

“Alright Ying, take it easy.” Ryder sputtered, as Ying’s grip seemed to tighten.

“Your aura was depleted.” Ying said, burying her face into Ryder’s shoulder. “You were dangerously close to dying.”

Ryder sighted, even as a chill ran down his spine. “I saved everyone’s lives didn’t I?”

“You did indeed.” Ying replied.

“Well that’s what counts.” Ryder said. “And I’d do it again in a heartbeat. For anybody.”

“It’s good to know that you care.” Ryder and Ying started upon hearing Pyrrha’s voice. She smiled brightly, as the other members of Team JNPR entered the infirmary. “But I don’t think you need to do anything as drastic such as risking your life to protect us.”

“Woah, what happened to you Jaune?” Rouge stood up straight, when he got a look at the nasty bruises on Jaune’s face.

“I got into a bit of an altercation with Cardin.” Jaune said, trying to smile but it looked more like a grimace with how bruised his face was.

“Maybe we should have let Nora break his legs.” Ryder said to Rouge, though his voice was loud enough for Nora to have heard him.

“I’ll be right back.” Nora said enthusiastically with a vicious smile.

“No!” Everyone said at the same time, and Pyrrah held her arm out to stop Nora from going off to break Cardin’s legs.

Several hours later, Dahlia and Ryder were released from the academy infirmary. Dahlia’s leg had been bandaged up in a heavy cast, and she was wheelchair bound just like Rheya was. Rheya’s ribs had been tapped up, and there was a heavy medical plastic chest and back plate over her shirt. Team RYDR was being accompanied to their dorm room by Team JNPR

“We’re not going on any missions any time soon are we?” Rheya asked, looking over her shoulder to her team leader. 

Ryder smiled sadly, and shook his head. “Not until the two of you can walk around properly without wincing or complaining.”

“Hopefully we won’t miss the VYTL Festival Tournament.” Dhalia said, rubbing her heavy cast with her left hand. 

“That’s months away.” Ryder replied, his smile now one of reassurance. “You two should be back on your feet by then.”

“I can’t wait!” Nora exclaimed, a fire in her eyes. “Team JNPR is gonna kick butt!”

“Easy Nora.” Ren said, smiling in an amused way. “We still have a few months until the festival tournament.”

Team RYDR was in for a bit of a surprise when they entered their dorm. Team RWBY quite literally surprised them, having decorated their dorm with a large banner that read ‘welcome back’ that stretched from wall to wall.

“Ryder!” Ruby rushed forward, and caught Ryder in a hug that surprised him even more than finding Team RWBY in his team’s dorm room.

“Woah, red hurricane!” Ryder laughed as he recovered, and returned Ruby’s gesture. “Ruby, you guys didn’t have to do… Oh who am I kidding I kinda wanted this.”

The small party was joined by Team CAKE when Ebony had been cleared to leave the infirmary. Ebony’s normal sour expression seemed to have intensified due to the neck brace she now had to wear, although that was the only down point of the small but lively party. 

“Ryder may I speak to you for a moment?” Khaki asked, while everyone seemed to be distracted. 

“Sure, what about?” Ryder asked, as Khaki seated himself next to him.

“That Scroll I recovered from the tower.” Khaki replied. “Professor Goodwitch would have given it to Professor Ozpin by now.”

“I’m guessing we won’t be getting any information about what was on that Scroll from them.” Ryder said, his eyes downcast. “That means no information about my father, or who or what it was that took the tower offline.”

“Right, because i’m an amiture.” Khaki scoffed confidently. “I made a copy of that Scroll, while we fell back to the parking garage.”

“How would you have had time to…” Ryder began, a moment before things clicked in his mind, and his eyes widened in realization. “Mr. Baskerville you’re a very clever man.”

“We can go over what’s on this scroll later.” Khaki began. “For now let’s enjoy the party, and the fact that we’re alive after that entire ordeal.”


	11. Chapter 11

Ebony scowled. To say she was mad would be an understatement. No she was furious. Furious at Ryder and Khaki for suggesting that Professor Ozpin had set them up on their very first mission. Given what she knew, and what Ozpin had done for her, there was absolutely no way that anything that had been found on their mission pointed to Beacon’s headmaster.

Ebony had left the academy grounds hours ago, and was now wandering the city with no destination in mind. She was so excruciatingly angry, that she doubted that she would come back to Beacon for the next few days. Her fists were curled so tightly, that her knuckles were white. Her teeth were in danger of cracking she was grinding them together so hard. Just the thought of everyone suspecting Ozpin was infuriating to her. The sound of her heartbeat was pounding in her ears, and her blood was boiling.

Finally, when she cold no longer contain her anger,the side of her right fist made contact with a hard metallic surface. The impact of her fist made a crunching hollow gonging sound on whatever it was she had hit, which was followed by a loud scraping against what had to be asphalt. Ebony scoffed in appreciation when she saw the extent of the damage she had caused to a large shipping container. The entire side was caved in, with the deepest indentation being where Ebony’s fist had come into contact with the container. The container had also gouged about six feet of pavement from the force of the blow.

“Alright, that’s new.” She said to herself, flexing her fingers to see if anything had been broken. fortunately, nothing was. She surmised that the angrier she became, the stronger her Semblance became. But of course Khaki would have guessed that already.

A spike of anger shot through her stomach when she thought of her team’s leader, damaging the container did nothing to alleviate her anger. She knew that she had to calm herself before she did anything to land her back in that place once again. The problem for her, was that it was nighttime which meant the local bakeries and candy shops had closed hours ago. There wasn’t even a vending machine in sight. “And I didn’t grab anything from my stash before I stormed out. This day just keeps getting better and better … Wait a second was that Blake?”

Ebony thought she saw the more reserved member of Team RWBY leap off the roof of a building a short distance away. What confused her, was that someone was following her. Someone with short blond hair and … Was that a tail? Was that guy following her a Faunus? She had to find out, and it might relieve her anger … Although she doubted it.

She made her way through dozens of rows of shipping containers, it was both difficult and really annoying trying to find Blake … That was right up until something grabbed her, and shoved her up against one of the hundreds of shipping containers in the yard. A cyndrillical object was pressed against her left cheek, and a voice growled in her hear: “You make a sound, and you’re dead.”

Ebony scoffed in agitation, when she got a look at the White Fang grunt that had pinned her against the shipping container. There really wasn’t much to look at, seeing as they all had the same uniform, and had the same Grimm mask covering the upper half of their faces. Her look of agitation then slowly turned into a knowing smirk, which was something that agitated the White Fang grunt.

“What’s so funny?” He growled, to which Ebony simply looked down. Indicating that he should too. A gasp of surprise escaped the grunts mouth, when he saw that Ebony’s dagger was placed edge up right between his legs. “Y-you wouldn’t.”

Ebony scoffed again. “I have done a lot worse, for much darker reasons other than self preservation. Up until a month ago, I was locked up in a high security Atlas prison you’ve probably never even heard of. So if you think that I won’t cut you. You’re right, because you’re beneath me, and you’re not worth going back into that box.” Ebony slammed the back of her head into the metal container. She had the White Fang in her sight, meaning he was fair game. The grunt crumpled to the ground, having been rendered unconscious by Ebony’s Semblance. 

After checking that she hadn’t cut the man when he crumpled to the ground, Ebony picked up both her dagger, and the grunts weapon. “Ugh Atlas model … Wait? Atlas? Since when do the White Fang use Atlas weapons?”

There was no time to answer that question, when the sound of gunfire rang out seemingly from all directions due to all the shipping containers. Ebony ducked to avoid any incoming fire, but she frowned a moment after realizing that it wasn’t her that was coming under fire. That meant someone else possibly Blake was under attack, or had initiated the attack. “Oh jeez, only a month around the guy, and I’m already starting to think like Khaki.”

Khaki. Despite the anger she felt at the mention of his name, she had to call him. The White Fang was here. Where there was one, there were dozens more. There were only two Beacon students here, plus whoever that blond Faunus was. But Ebony didn’t know wether or not he was an ally or an enemy, so for the moment he was an unknown. “Wow, I really am starting to think like Khaki.”

Putting her dagger aside, Ebony grabbed her Scroll, and pressed the picture of Khaki’s face that automatically dialed his number. What surprised her, was that she heard a phone ringing from right next to her.

“You rang?” Khaki asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

Ebony rolled her eyes, fighting to control her agitation. “Two things. One, I hate when you do that. Two. You put a tracker on my Scroll didn’t you?”

“I did indeed.” Khaki replied nonchalantly. 

“Well did you-?” Khaki cut Ebony off in mid-sentence, when he thrust a chocolate bar in front of her face.

“You had to ask?” Khaki asked, as Ebony took what she considered to be her stress relief. “Now what’s the situation?”

Ebony now devouring said chocolate bar, gave her team leader a look that obviously said: _Oh what? You didn’t already know what the situation was when you got here?_

“Point taken, but it never hurts to have a second pair of eyes.” Khaki said, in reply to Ebony’s questioning glare.

Ebony rolled her eyes once more, before swallowing her mouthful of chocolate. “White Fang are here, there’s probably a lot of them.” A large explosion went off nearby. “Okay I take that back. There’s _definately_ a lot of them. Blake’s here too, along with another unknown. I’m not sure, but he might be a Faunus … Oh God, I really am starting to talk like you.”

“Not always a bad thing.” Khaki replied.

“Could we please just start fighting them now?” Ebony asked. Her tone clearly desperate for him to stop talking.

“After you.” Khaki replied, pointing to his left. “It’s that way by the way.”

Several things happened at once. Another large explosion sent several large shipping containers straight towards them. What sounded like a chainsaw revving up reached their ears, and Cyan was suddenly in front of the two. There was a large two handed sword in both of her hands, which she brought through the air, slicing the containers in half. The large container halves sailed harmlessly past Cyan, Khaki, and Ebony, destroying the containers they crashed into.

“Where?” Ebony began, but Khaki cut her off.

“Talk later, fight now.”

White Fang began to surround three of the four members of Team CAKE, right up until they stopped in their tracks when someone fired at their feet. The White Fang grunts looked up towards the source of gunfire, and saw what appeared to be a young man standing on a shipping container that wasn’t destroyed. He was in dramatic fashion, silhouetted against the moon. Three more figures all silhouetted against the moon, but all clearly female stepped out from behind the first figure. The White Fang turned their weapons up at these newcomers, which was a mistake that cost them.

A small cluster of rockets and arrows that were formed by dust rained down on the swarming White Fang that were attempting to surround Team CAKE. When the smoke cleared from the resulting explosion, there was nothing left to fight. No White Fang, just craters and the members of Team RUGE and RYDR having now joined Team CAKE. 

“You were following us from the start weren’t you?” Khaki asked Ryder and Rouge. The latter producing Auburn from where she was taking cover from behind his large shield.

“Just like you were following Ebony since she stormed out.” Ryder replied, Fourth still in its gun mode.

“Point taken.” Khaki replied, as sirens reached their ears. “Now the real question is, what were the White Fang doing here?” 

“Oh, you’re saying you really don’t know?” Ebony asked, unable to stop the smug grin that was spreading across her face. “You. The all-knowing Khaki Baskerville, can’t figure out why the White Fang was here at this exact location.”

“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” Khaki asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

“A little. I mean is this how you feel all the time?”

“Ebony.” Cyan said crossly.

“Okay fine.” Ebony said, and held up the weapon she had taken off of the White Fang grunt. “I think it has something to do with this. It’s an Atlas model, but I haven’t seen this one before. It might be a new one.”

Khaki took the weapon in question, and began to examine it. “You’re right Ebony. This is a new Atlas model, hasn’t even been regulated to Atlas armed forces.”

“What about the payload?” Ryder asked.

Khaki ejected the magazine, and took a round out. It was a bright silver in color, which made Khaki scowl darker than Ebony ever could. Something that she clearly picked up on, and though she would never admit this, made her jealous that anyone could scowl darker than she could.

“Khaki? What’s going on? What’s with those bullets?” Rouge asked, having also picked up on his expression.

“An old rival, and a very dangerous man has resurfaced.” Khaki replied, tossing the bullet to the larger student. “Check the back.”

Rouge did as Khaki asked, at examined the back of the round. “Thirteen millimeter heavy round. Yeah these are new alright. And what or who is SC? That the guy you’re talking about?”

Khaki nodded once. “Sterling Caliber.”


End file.
